[V6C200 – Sorrow of a Silent Parting]

Qianye glanced at the divination sign, and then at the frosty Li Kuanglan. He realized instantly that he had been seen through and that any explanation would only be in vain.

He did try to salvage the situation despite his inexperience. “I didn’t mean it that way. Yes, it wasn’t intentional. You fell down from the sky after all.” He wasn’t quite aware of the worsening situation and that Li Kuanglan’s expression was becoming increasingly unsightly.

A crisp voice suddenly rang out, “What fell from the sky?”

Another good-looking figure appeared in the courtyard. That maid was a step slower but still made it in time to hear Qianye’s last words.

Li Kuanglan could no longer hold back. Her sword left its sheath with a clang and shot toward Qianye’s throat. “Enough with the nonsense! One of us shall die today!”

The blade flickered like a bolt of lightning even before the shout had ended, denying Qianye any chance of explaining. Its speed was simply inconceivable and exceeded the limits of human perception. Even with Qianye’s speed, he could only see a cold gleam in front of him before a chill crept up his neck.

“Was I struck?” He was shocked.

A blow to the vitals! How could this strike be so fast? Despite the speed, Qianye later sensed that the force behind it was fairly weak. However, he didn’t have time to a.n.a.lyze the attack during that moment of astonishment and only pulled back rapidly.

One sword to seal the throat! Li Kuanglan was supposed to be gloating at the moment, but her eyes went wide instead. The girl behind her also let out two continuous gasps of surprise and stared at Qianye as though he were a ghost.

Her first cry was because Li Kuanglan had launched that sudden attack. The second one was due to Qianye, and the reason for her astonishment was the same as that of Li Kuanglan—there wasn’t a single wound on Qianye’s throat, not even a red mark.

Li Kuanglan had never intended to kill Qianye. That slash was only intended to leave a fine cut on his neck and make him realize how powerful she was. She had controlled the force extremely well, and it was just enough to break through a rank-twelve champion’s origin defenses. Although Qianye was only rank-eleven, his combat strength wasn’t inferior to an ordinary lieutenant general. This amount of force was just right.

She had never imagined that this slash to the throat would fail to even cut through his skin.

This outcome was too unexpected. If this were a real life and death battle, Li Kuanglan’s miscalculation of Qianye’s defenses would have resulted in her falling into dire straits. Qianye could easily grasp this opportunity to trade injuries with her.

She was indeed outstanding in the sword arts, but the Li family arts had never been known for producing strong physiques.

Li Kuanglan’s expression sank after the initial shock had pa.s.sed. “Well hidden! Take a couple more strikes from me!”

She threw another strike at Qianye’s neck without even finis.h.i.+ng her words. The speed of this slash was no longer as outrageous as the first. Instead, it was more abstruse, and the origin power on its edge was more intense, glowing a faint blue. Although Li Kuanglan was merely holding an ordinary sword, the addition of her frost origin power made it extremely sharp. It wasn’t a problem for her to easily cut down werewolves and arachne.

He could let the first slash be, but Qianye’s expression fell with the arrival of a second attack. He took two steps back, grabbed East Peak from the weapon rack, and performed a retaliatory thrust.

As soon as Qianye moved, Li Kuanglan followed suit without a second thought and kept her aim upon Qianye’s throat. But she had just taken a step forward when her neck tensed up. East Peak had arrived at her throat and was fairly close to touching her skin!

Li Kuanglan was shocked out of her wits. Her long hair spread out, tearing the ribbon she was wearing into countless pieces! She circulated her origin power at full capacity and retreated at great speeds. Even then, she was just barely able to dodge that incoming blade.

Li Kuanglan’s expression was rather pale after escaping this calamity, and beads of sweat were faintly discernible on her forehead.

The attack was simply too uncanny. She had no idea how it had appeared or how to defend against it. Had it landed on her throat, her entire neck would’ve been blown apart. She still felt somewhat apprehensive after thinking about it.

East Peak arrived once again before she had recovered from her shock. After missing the target’s throat, Qianye flicked the blade up with a shake of his wrist and went for Li Kuanglan’s left shoulder. Before the sharp edge had even arrived, the latter could feel her entire body grow heavy—it was as though an invisible force was pouring down upon her.

Her expression transformed several times. The might of this withdrawn blow was extremely terrifying, and even giant boulders would be pulverized with a light tap of Qianye’s blade. Li Kuanglan knew for sure that her origin defenses couldn’t take a blow from East Peak.

The helpless Li Kuanglan could only retreat and evade the brunt of the attack, and then it took a dozen or so counterattacks to eventually regain her ground. She displayed the full extent of her lightning-fast sword arts, hacking frantically at Qianye before finally managing to suppress him.

However, Qianye had both hands on the blade and his full concentration on the battle. Stabbing here and slas.h.i.+ng there, his actions looked chaotic and random. Yet, it just so happened that his movements blocked all of Li Kuanglan’s attacks. He even managed to throw in a counterattack from time to time, forcing Li Kuanglan to take several steps back in each instance.

The more they fought, the more Li Kuanglan was shaken. Qianye’s disorderly strikes would always land at the most critical moment—it was fast when warranted, and slow when required. There was neither any waste in origin power nor any oversight in grasping opportunities.

After a moment of fighting, Li Kuanglan suddenly realized that this was an early sign of great success in combat arts.

This shook her heart, causing her movements to slow down ever so slightly. How could Qianye let go of this opportunity? East Peak shot straight at her chest almost instantly!

This strike wasn’t very fast, but it was extremely heavy—almost like a rolling deluge of sand and mud.

Li Kuanglan blocked reflexively, but the two blades hadn’t even touched one another when her sword began to creak, groan, and bent out of shape.

She was greatly astonished, but there was not enough time to retreat—all she could do was take the blow head on. However, the true weight of Qianye’s strike was only evident in such a head-on exchange!

Seeing Li Kuanglan in danger, the maid cried out and charged in from the side, slas.h.i.+ng down at East Peak with a dagger in each hand. She only revealed her true strength at this point—she was a rank-twelve expert.

Her blades bounced back upon clas.h.i.+ng with East Peak and very nearly flew out of her hands. The maid’s face turned pale and lost any semblance of color. Yet, East Peak rose up instead of being pushed down. It appeared beside the young girl’s neck with a flicker and lightly patted her cheeks before pulling back.

This strike transitioned rapidly from the extremes of power to the utmost gentleness without the slightest of signs. It was as though the entire process was right and natural.

The maid stood there in a daze. She came to only after a while and suddenly broke into a loud wail. Her sobs were fairly loud, but her feet remained nailed to the ground, not daring to move even a bit. Apparently, she was frightened out of her wits.

This obstruction caused Qianye’s strike to become fruitless. Since the opportunity had been lost, he simply retreated and, with East Peak pointed toward the ground, stood to wait for a new round of attacks.

Li Kuanglan’s expression was livid. She suddenly clenched her teeth and performed that lightning-fast attack once again.

However, Qianye was prepared this time—East Peak rose vertically in front of him and effectively blocked the violent flashes of lightning. The sword radiance came in a steady stream and suppressed Qianye’s defenses to within a meter of him. Nonetheless, it just couldn"t break through this final line of defense.

It was at this time that a barely discernible wisp of origin power appeared and made for the back of Qianye’s neck. Even from a distance, he could feel a vague stabbing pain from the needle-like origin power.

Qianye couldn’t be more familiar with this origin power; it was the mysterious energy that had deprived him of tranquility last night. And now, this person was ambus.h.i.+ng him from the darkness. Although there was no evident malice, such actions were truly hateful and Qianye couldn’t help but want to give this person a lesson.

After contending with this origin power for half a night, Qianye knew its nature quite well—it was extremely sharp but not so resilient. As such, he acted as though he were ignorant about the new a.s.sailant, allowing the origin power to arrive behind his head.

Just as it was about to stab into his skin, Qianye suddenly threw his head backward and gave it a headb.u.t.t, forcibly shattering that needle-like origin power with his head.

A m.u.f.fled groan came from outside of the courtyard. The sound was pretty soft, but the three here were all experts; even that young maid was a rank-twelve champion. As such, they heard it clearly and realized that someone had launched an ambush. Not only had the attack failed, but the a.s.sailant had also suffered in Qianye’s hands.

Li Kuanglan’s expression changed immediately after hearing this voice. She suddenly stepped back and said furiously, “Who told you to meddle?!”

A fleeting voice emerged from outside the walls. Its direction—and even the gender of its owner—was difficult to discern. “I just wanted to see how much you’ve grown, but who would’ve thought a certain person would be in such an unsightly state despite the grand entrance. You’ve really thrown the Li family’s prestige down the drain.”

These words weren’t polite at all and left no face for Li Kuanglan. Her expression immediately turned frosty, pale, and almost translucent. This added a tinge of allure to her originally handsome face.

Not willing to take this lying down, the latter shouted, “He wouldn’t be able to act so unbridled if I had the Cold Moon’s Embrace!”

The person outside the courtyard broke into a laugh. “It was you who insisted on discarding a good weapon in favor of a common sword, just so you could show off your improved techniques.”

Li Kuanglan was livid and her chest heaved fiercely from the anger. She had been stoppered quite badly, but the same couldn’t be said for the discontent maid beside her. The eloquent little la.s.s spoke up immediately, “Even so, our family’s young n.o.ble still managed to hold the upper hand, unlike a certain someone who failed a sneak attack and even suffered from it. You have the cheek to criticize others with such meager skills?”

That person was dumbfounded for a brief moment but eventually spoke in a cold voice, “When was it your place to talk here?”

The maid wasn’t afraid at all and even raised her voice. “Oh? Now you’re using status to suppress people since you can’t argue logically. I’m only a servant, I might not understand a lot, but I do know reason. Do tell me if I said anything wrong!”

The two parties forgot Qianye as they bickered back and forth.

The latter could no longer endure this. With a shake of his East Peak, he said, “If you two have no intention to fight with me, then please head back now. My place is too small to entertain people like you. Any later and it won’t be easy to clean up this mess.”

His words weren’t very polite. Li Kuanglan was about to flare up, but she suddenly noticed several figures rise up in the distance, all of them Zhao clan experts. They had finally noticed something wrong here and were coming over to check.

Although she wasn’t afraid of them, it would be quite troublesome if she were to be entangled here. Hence, she shot Qianye a hateful glance and muttered, “Good, very good. Just you wait!”

She then leapt out of the courtyard and flickered out of view. The maid was a bit slower, yet she didn’t forget to make faces at Qianye and was still giggling on her way out. That mysterious person never appeared until the very end, and no one knew when it left.